Laminate flooring - quality vs price

river_kwai

Hi, I am looking for laminate flooring for a lounge with the size of 5m x 3.5m and dining room the size of 2.7m x 3.4m but my question is that of the so may different types of laminate flooring, which is the one to get? Are the cheaper ones of nasty qualities? Any recommendation of the brand and where to get them for reasonable price.

What about the types? Is glue type or click type better?

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

frosty

Hi,river-kwai, we have laminate flooring in our lounge,we decided to go for a high quality one,it has a twenty year guarantee and we purchased it at Topps tiles when they had a sale on, it looks like old floorboards and its the one that clicks together,I think in a lounge you need a good quality one. The only problem we have is that the dogs we have are so noisy when they are chasing about,it sounds like they are tap dancing.When I was in a local furniture store they had some fantastic cushion floor,it was hard to tell it wasnt laminate,it felt warm to touch,and wouldnt be noisy when walked on,I wish I had seen it before I had my floor done,its laid within an hour,and it would of been cheaper.I think it is called Rhino floor,not sure if they have a website.

elfmay

www.rhinofloor.co.uk

LouLouHelen

We bought some from Floors2go. It was the click rather than the glue stuff. Have a lovely bevalled edge so even though its not actually wood everyone thinks it is at first look, we get lots of compliments about it.

Not that expensive at all considering the quality and the price of some of the types we looked at! About £11 per box, so with the underlay (we bought a good one after lots of people said it was worthwhile - warmth, sound etc) around £250 for approx. 7x4 mtrs + underlay and edging. Took a day to lay with just 2 of us. It looks great - really pleased with it.

Hunnymonster

Having put down cheap stuff (to tidy a house up prior to sale - it worked, sold in 24 hours) and better quality stuff (in a house I just moved into) in the last 6 months - the better quality stuff definitely went together better, and more reliably.

Bought mine from Floors2Go too after I'd toured the opposition getting written quotes on the type I wanted (exact manufacturer, type etc), without question F2G offered to beat any other quote by 10% and free delivery within 3 counties - I persuaded them to extend that by 1 mile into a 4th county (coincidentally on the longest run from the store) and they did it.

Given I'm in a new house, I gently levered off all the skirtings to lay the floor 'properly' and I'm pleased with the results. Used QuickStep (both board-type and tile-effect - in different rooms of course), laid 60 sq. m in 2.5 days.

gardnt1

As a fitter, I would always recommended quality over price any day of the week. I always used to hunt around and get the cheapest of anything, which I still do, but after learning that cheap isnt always best and having my wife constantly remind me of that I always factor quality into equation too now!!

With laminates, the last thing you want to do is lay a floor which in a years time will have chipped, discoloured and will have to come up....especially if you have paid for the fitting. If i were to supply the flooring, I always try and persuade customers to go with quickstep....not only a fantastic looking range, but quality flooring....a little more expensive, but a floor which will last and look good for many years.

snowboardjon

I've just finished fitting 35m sq. of Quickstep 950. I couldn't recommend it highly enough, it went together really well with the click system and it looks really good.
I would go for something which is decent quality like this as you wouldn't want to have to go through the whole process of relaying it in 2 years if it starts to look shabby.
One thing I would say though is that although this has a 20 year guarantee on it, if you read the small print it says something along the lines of not covering 1cm around the edge of each plank, which I would have thought is where it is most likely to chip!

Also befriend a builder and get it at trade price if you can - 50% off makes a big difference.